I keep hearing radio ads from some realtor who promises in the ad copy that if they don't get an offer within 48 hours he'll buy it himself. 

I prefer the former because it includes a lot of solid financial information.

Indeed that would be my preference, but my network is completely outside the real estate world, so the few syndication opportunities that came my way did not convince me, I couldn’t get past the “this person must be desperate if they are asking money to me”, so I never pulled the trigger, it really just felt like giving away $100k on good faith.

Would you prefer for the meetup to be nothing formal, just a casual hang out to interact with other investors in the area to discuss deals, hopes, and dreams, etc..... or would you prefer to have a topic to discuss and possibly have someone in the real estate world (bankers, lenders, financial advisors, Inspectors, etc.) come to chat with everyone about what they can do to help and what they look for? 

I prefer raw land deals myself.

Preferably, I like to buy because this takes out competition, greatercontrol over pricing, and hopefully they have some land to expand on.

Besides, you want someone to have your back if things go sideways.).Beside that--code enforcement or some sort of expedited process would be much preferable to the whole eviction process--go through the eviction process if you need to but I would try to do it faster than that. 

Rate prefere to be around 5%.  

I have $250k cash to invest, and I’d prefer to do it in STR, and get as close to my goal of 4-5k cash flow possible.

Copper or PEX are ideal (I prefer PEX since it wouldn't freeze in the winter and bust).